Friday, March 25, 2011

Laprhoaigian updates from the podcast!

Welcome back. If you listened to the podcast, you heard me say I didn't know a few things. Laphroaig's USA Ambassador, Mr. Brooking himself, was kind enough to contact me and explain some of the things I didn't know, or didn't have quite right.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate him taking the time to do that. It makes one feel like a true Friend of Laphroaig, and not just a dollar sign. He even thanked me for representing their product, which truly made my day!

There were a lot of questions on barrels I couldn't answer. Laphroaig only uses their barrels once. Those barrels are used American bourbon barrels. When they receive the barrels, they undergo a "de-char/re-char" process. They scrape the char out of the barrels and re-fire them to reinvigorate the oils in the wood.

After they're done, they sell the barrels to the whisky blenders. When the blenders are done, they'll sell the barrels to grain whisky producers.

Yeast was a big question. I never hear it talked about. Simon tells me Laphroaig has one of the longest fermentation times in the industry - up to 90 hours. They use a Mauri brewer's yeast and let it ferment out to completion. Anywhere from 45 to 90 hours.

I did make one real mistake: the Laphroaig Quarter Cask's whiskies are from 5 to 11 years old, not 3 and up as I said. Also, the bourbon barrels are 200 liters, not 200 gallons. The quarter casks are 100 liters. Why not 50? Because a quarter cask is a quarter of a 500 liter sherry butt.

Simon pointed out that peat is not specifically used as a flavoring agent. The burning peat is used to start the drying process of the malted barley. After 15-18 hours of using peat, they switch to force-blown air using the residual heat from the stills. They dry the barley to 2% moisture content.

He also told me about a smoke-bomb, which I can't wait to try: like an Irish car bomb, but drop a shot of Laphroaig into a glass of oatmeal stout. I just happen to have some oatmeal stout on tap right now...

So thanks again to Simon Brooking and Laphroaig. I look forward to more products and tastings in the future! Slainte!